Paulo Costa sends eerie warning after split decision loss to Sean Strickland: "I will come to take heads off"
Paulo Costa recently sent a dire warning following his defeat against Sean Strickland at the co-main event of UFC 302. The pay-per-view event took place this weekend at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Costa fought for the second time this year, going up against Strickland in a middleweight bout. Both fighters were hoping to atone for their earlier losses and get closer to another title shot.
Costa responded with leg kicks as Strickland applied relentless pressure and front strikes to the body all through the bout. Throughout, Strickland seemed to be in control of the tempo, delivering more strikes and making Costa fight from the back foot. A late knockdown in the decisive round appeared to have clinched Strickland's victory.
Strickland won the fight via split decision after five rounds. The judges scored the contest 46-49, 50-45, and 49-46.
Following the loss, Costa took to X and expressed his frustration in a since-deleted video, saying:
''I will bring back the [old] Paulo to take heads off, to finish the fight...I have the power, so I need to deliver that — and I will do that. I won’t give a f*ck. F*ck points or conserving energy or f*ck anything about that. I will come to take heads off. And this is who I am, this is the kind of fighter I am, and the fighter who people expect that I perform [as]. So I will do that. F*ck points, I’ve [had] enough of this.''
Paulo Costa has lost three of his previous five bouts. He was defeated by Robert Whittaker via unanimous decision at UFC 298. Meanwhile, Strickland suffered a split decision loss to Dricus du Plessis in his last octagon outing at UFC 297, losing his middleweight title in the process.
Sean Strickland criticizes Paulo Costa for his performance at UFC 302
Paulo Costa started his MMA career as a fierce knockout artist, ending his UFC run from 2017 to 2018 with four straight knockouts. Since then, he has adopted a more patient and conservative style, fighting to decisions in five of his past six bouts, the only exception being his 2020 second-round knockout loss to Israel Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion at the time.
Following their latest fight, Sean Strickland discussed Paulo Costa's performance at the UFC 302 during a press conference. He expressed his disappointment by saying:
''It was just a weird f**king fight man, I don't know what was going on with Costa it's like I think he might... I don't know I just think Costa wasn't, he just f**king maybe want to be friends.''
Check out Sean Strickland's comments below (2:53):